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Haven't posted for a long time, so hello everyone, I hope you're all doing well. Younger readers mightn't be aware, but the current football championship format in Carlow sprang from a post on this forum about a decade ago and I think it is time for a fresh shake-up, so here's a radical proposal.
I would introduce two competitions in both football and hurling, an open County Championship and the normal graded Club Championships. Knock out football, just like it used to be, which would attract proper crowds, due to novelty pairings and the 'day out.'
The football County Championship would include the first team of every club in Carlow, regardless of whether it's senior, intermediate or junior and it would be a straight knockout competition with a completely open draw. This would also offer an incentive to decent players from senior clubs, languishing in junior sides, to consider moving to smaller clubs to play 'first team' football. With a small player pool, we really have to squeeze everything we can from it.
With 20 clubs, there would be a preliminary round followed by the last 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
There would inevitably be a few hammerings, but that is true of every open knockout competition (in every sport). The compensation would be the possibility of genuine upsets, a strong junior side such as O'Hanrahan's this year (so far, at least!) might draw a weaker senior club and beat them. At present, an exceptional junior or intermediate team can spend an entire championship proving only that it's in the wrong grade.
Alongside this competition, we would retain the normal Senior, Intermediate and Junior Club Championships. These would continue to determine promotion and relegation and produce the champions of each grade.
I would revert the group stages to three matches and run both competitions concurrently. Clubs progressing in both would have a busier schedule, just as successful soccer teams do when competing in both a league and a cup, so that's a leveling up factor in itself.
Then comes a main part of the proposal. If one club won the open County Championship and another won the Senior Club Championship, they would meet in a final playoff. The winner would become the overall Carlow champion and represent the county in the Leinster Senior Club Championship. That game would be a big day out, for sure.
For example, if Bagenalstown Gaels won the open competition and Rathvilly won the Senior Championship, they would meet in the final match of the Carlow season with the Leinster place at stake. However, if the same club won both competitions, there would be no playoff, they would already have proved they're the undisputed champion and would advance directly to Leinster. We can call it the Carlow Super Cup, or whatever.
I would use essentially the same format in hurling. All nine first-team clubs (ten if Setanta wanted to give it a lash). would enter an open knockout competition, beginning with one preliminary match and proceeding to the quarter-finals.
The ordinary graded championships would continue alongside it, although I would replace the present senior and intermediate structure with a more compact Senior A and Senior B, with promotion and relegation between them. So say Senior A (MLR, Mullins, B'Town, Ballinkillen) and Senior B (Myshall, CTHC, Burren, Brid). Senior B champions would enter the Leinster intermediate (unless of course they won the knock-out championship).
Carlow Town and Burren Rangers have made progress, but simply promoting another club into the existing senior championship risks creating more one-sided matches. A Senior A and Senior B system would give clubs competitive games at their own level, while the open knockout championship would still give everyone the chance to face St Mullins, Mount Leinster Rangers or another leading side.
As in football, the open champion would play the Senior A champion for the right to represent Carlow in Leinster, unless the same club won both.
The proposal would restore genuine knockout championship matches, create the possibility of shocks, give ambitious lower-grade clubs a chance against senior opposition and potentially finish the season with a major county playoff.
There would obviously be details to settle, particularly around scheduling (there might have to be a few midweek games) and Leinster qualification would need approval from Leinster Council (why would they object?), but the basic format is simple, one open knockout championship, one shortened graded championship and, where necessary, a final meeting of the two winners.
It would be something different, something designed specifically for Carlow and, at the very least, something worth discussing. Maybe we could be radical, for once, and instead of copying other counties, break some new ground ourselves?
TAFKAN01FAN (Carlow) - Posts: 18 - 07/09/2026 12:22:05
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Haven't posted for a long time, so hello everyone, I hope you're all doing well. Younger readers mightn't be aware, but the current football championship format in Carlow sprang from a post on this forum about a decade ago and I think it is time for a fresh shake-up, so here's a radical proposal.
I would introduce two competitions in both football and hurling, an open County Championship and the normal graded Club Championships. Knock out football, just like it used to be, which would attract proper crowds, due to novelty pairings and the 'day out.'
The football County Championship would include the first team of every club in Carlow, regardless of whether it's senior, intermediate or junior and it would be a straight knockout competition with a completely open draw. This would also offer an incentive to decent players from senior clubs, languishing in junior sides, to consider moving to smaller clubs to play 'first team' football. With a small player pool, we really have to squeeze everything we can from it.
With 20 clubs, there would be a preliminary round followed by the last 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.
There would inevitably be a few hammerings, but that is true of every open knockout competition (in every sport). The compensation would be the possibility of genuine upsets, a strong junior side such as O'Hanrahan's this year (so far, at least!) might draw a weaker senior club and beat them. At present, an exceptional junior or intermediate team can spend an entire championship proving only that it's in the wrong grade.
Alongside this competition, we would retain the normal Senior, Intermediate and Junior Club Championships. These would continue to determine promotion and relegation and produce the champions of each grade.
I would revert the group stages to three matches and run both competitions concurrently. Clubs progressing in both would have a busier schedule, just as successful soccer teams do when competing in both a league and a cup, so that's a leveling up factor in itself.
Then comes a main part of the proposal. If one club won the open County Championship and another won the Senior Club Championship, they would meet in a final playoff. The winner would become the overall Carlow champion and represent the county in the Leinster Senior Club Championship. That game would be a big day out, for sure.
For example, if Bagenalstown Gaels won the open competition and Rathvilly won the Senior Championship, they would meet in the final match of the Carlow season with the Leinster place at stake. However, if the same club won both competitions, there would be no playoff, they would already have proved they're the undisputed champion and would advance directly to Leinster. We can call it the Carlow Super Cup, or whatever.
I would use essentially the same format in hurling. All nine first-team clubs (ten if Setanta wanted to give it a lash). would enter an open knockout competition, beginning with one preliminary match and proceeding to the quarter-finals.
The ordinary graded championships would continue alongside it, although I would replace the present senior and intermediate structure with a more compact Senior A and Senior B, with promotion and relegation between them. So say Senior A (MLR, Mullins, B'Town, Ballinkillen) and Senior B (Myshall, CTHC, Burren, Brid). Senior B champions would enter the Leinster intermediate (unless of course they won the knock-out championship).
Carlow Town and Burren Rangers have made progress, but simply promoting another club into the existing senior championship risks creating more one-sided matches. A Senior A and Senior B system would give clubs competitive games at their own level, while the open knockout championship would still give everyone the chance to face St Mullins, Mount Leinster Rangers or another leading side.
As in football, the open champion would play the Senior A champion for the right to represent Carlow in Leinster, unless the same club won both.
The proposal would restore genuine knockout championship matches, create the possibility of shocks, give ambitious lower-grade clubs a chance against senior opposition and potentially finish the season with a major county playoff.
There would obviously be details to settle, particularly around scheduling (there might have to be a few midweek games) and Leinster qualification would need approval from Leinster Council (why would they object?), but the basic format is simple, one open knockout championship, one shortened graded championship and, where necessary, a final meeting of the two winners.
It would be something different, something designed specifically for Carlow and, at the very least, something worth discussing. Maybe we could be radical, for once, and instead of copying other counties, break some new ground ourselves?
TAFKAN01FAN (Carlow) - Posts: 18 - 07/09/2026 12:35:52
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